MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. The shipborne air task force of the Russian cutting-edge frigate Admiral Gorshkov armed with Tsirkon hypersonic missiles practiced flights of a deck-based Ka-27 helicopter in adverse weather conditions in the Atlantic Ocean, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.
"The pilots held scheduled drills. During the flights, they conducted air reconnaissance to ferret out the aerial and surface situation along the route of the frigate’s deployment. During its flight shift, the crew carried out take-offs and landings on the frigate’s helipad while the frigate was on the move to maintain the level of the flight personnel’s skills," the ministry said in a statement.
The pilots conducted their flights in rough waters of up to 3 points at wind gusts of about 15 meters per second, it said.
The frigate Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov has been deployed in distant waters under the command of Northern Fleet Missile Ships Division Commander Captain 1st Rank Oleg Gladky. The warship’s deployment aims to ensure Russia’s naval presence in strategically important areas of the World Ocean, the ministry said.
The Russian naval sailors have covered a distance of over 2,000 nautical miles since the frigate departed from the Northern Fleet’s main naval base of Severomorsk. The frigate is set to participate in a series of drills with ships of other fleets of the Russian Navy and with warships of foreign navies.
Frigate Admiral Gorshkov
The Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov is the Project 22350 lead multi-purpose frigate designed to operate in distant waters. The warship was built at the Severnaya Verf Shipyard (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) and joined the Russian Navy in July 2018. In December 2022, the frigate conducted an inter-fleet transit and arrived at the Northern Fleet’s main naval base of Severomorsk after its routine maintenance at the Kronshtadt Marine Plant.
The frigate Admiral Gorshkov carries the Kalibr-NK missile system as its basic strike weapon. The warship was actively involved in testing Russia’s breakthrough Tsirkon hypersonic missile designed and produced by the Reutov-based Research and Production Association of Machine-Building (part of the Tactical Missiles Corporation).
Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the Defense Ministry’s enlarged board meeting on December 21, 2022 that the frigate would be deployed to the sea in early January to embark on combat patrols with the world’s unrivaled Tsirkon seaborne hypersonic missile systems. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at the time that the frigate was gearing up for its combat patrols in an unplanned area in the World Ocean.